What you need to know about SSL and secure websites

What is SSL?

A SSL certificate is the thing we buy in order to turn everything into gibberish whilst in transit. Slightly over simplifying.

Depending on the certificate, the verification process differs.

Why is SSL a must have?

God said so! God in this game being Google. Well there are specific reasons...

The first reason you should know is that Google are updating Chrome on 1st January 2017. From then on Chrome will display the following:

It is very likely that the other browsers will follow suit. Even if they don't, Google Chrome is the most used browser in the world. Google's goal is to have a stronger warning as below:

It is fairly safe to assume this is going to scare some visitors off completing forms ie contact us pages. This shift is all about promoting a safer web. You can read more about all this on Google's security blog post.

The next reason is that secure websites are said to see a slight shift in rankings. Again this is Google's way of promoting a safer web. The rewards for securing your website may change in time and we imagine it will become greater if anything as Google continue to push the importance of security..

By securing the websites it prevents data being intercepted and at times modified by encrypting it.

So why do you need it? Increase rankings, click-through-rate, client confidence and in turn profits...

What are the options?

There are different certificates available to choose from. Each requiring different degrees of validation or verification. Which one you need will depend on your online activities.

DV (Domain validated) - blogs, social media & personal websites

Our DV certificates name is "Standard SSL". This is the entry level certificate and requires the least verification. In fact you simply confirm that you control a specific email address ie admin@yourdomain.com. This can be issued within the hour.

The address bar is as follows:

For Safari:

or for Google Chrome:

Our certificates start at £59 ex. VAT per year for one domain. With £80,321 warranty.

Our EV certificates name is called "Premium SSL". This requires further verification by confirming you own the company and domain. Verification is as above but in much more detail. It is likely they may ask for copies of documents to prove the legitimacy of the company. This can take up to 7 weeks.

This is why our Premium SSL comes with a free Standard SSL certificate. We use that until the EV certificate has been issued.

The address bar appears as:

For Safari: ​

or for Google Chrome:

Our certificates start at £199 ex. VAT per year for one domain. With £200,803 warranty.